Wing and Prayer
by TariellaAiden
Summary: The Dragon Slayers and their Exceed partners find themselves swapped with one another's body. Magnolia takes the brunt of their desperate attempts to fix the situation, as their search for a solution leads them to the secluded village of Berubo. There an epic story unfolds, where they have yet to find out body swapping is the least of their worries.
1. Rumble and Tumble

A calamity was brewing on Strawberry Street, and unsurprisingly it involved the strongest guild in the Kingdom of Fiore.

"Somehow," said Charle, a stern look gracing her features, "I just know this is your fault." She was sitting on Lucy's bed looking at a befuddled Natsu and Happy.

To a simple passerby, it looked as if Nastu had picked up his exceed friend, and was examining him at arms length. But then, a simple passerby wouldn't know they had just swapped bodies. Upon hearing her comment they both simultaneously turned to her and cried "This is _so_ not our fault!"

Pantherlily scratched his forearm awkwardly and looked down at what used to be himself saying in a disappointed tone, "Am I _really_ that small?"

"Now's not the time to be worrying about that!" Charle shook her head, she couldn't believe these guys. Meanwhile somewhere in a corner of the room Wendy had taken to walking in tight circles, a small dark cloud blooming above her. "Wendy, we'll be alright!" her friend comforted. Wendy twitched her ears in response.

Brazenly leaning against the wall was Gajeel, looking less than pleased as he crossed his front paws over his chest. "Whatever, does anyone know how to get us back to normal?"

"I'm kinda enjoying this!" Natsu grinned, totally ignoring him, trying to fly circles around his former body. "This flying thing will take some getting used to. Hey secretly, I've always wanted to know what it was like to have fur. Maybe I'll do a cat-bath!" He laughed demonically to himself.

"Natsu -" said Happy.

Natsu stopped flying for a moment to hear out his little now-human friend.

"- please don't lick my privates." He tried to put on a serious voice, but ended up giggling nonetheless.

"Aye sir!" Natsu parodied his friends' catchphrase, raising his right hand to a salute. They both started rolling on the floor laughing at their own complicity, hands clutching their stomachs. Happy, not having adapted to his new-found height, rolled on Wendy's tail, who then squealed.

"Ooh, sorry Wendy!" he said, still smiling.

She stared at him for a second, then slowly looked down at herself "I...I'm naked!" Tears of embarrassment started pouring out like mini waterfalls, because indeed, she was only wearing a pink ribbon on the end of her tail.

"Technically you're a cat, so... there is no naked state." Natsu stretched his arms out cheerfully, paws behind his head, boldly sporting nothing but a green backpack. Wendy's gaze travelled over his bare fluff and it made her cry harder.

"You boys have no sensitivity!" Charle scolded, patting Wendy gently on the head, only relaxing when she started purring slightly. Happy, who didn't like being told off, let some poorly mastered fire dragon lava dribble submissively from his mouth. He also mentioned something about wanting to try out the bath.

All this madness had begun not long ago, as they had just come back from a failed mission. The job was to catch an elusive rascal, who got their kicks from filling people's doorsteps with fish every day. Since Happy had a major fish obsession, and the prize money was good, all six of them set off on the adventure. Unfortunately, as they discovered, the perpetrator was an even bigger fish, who had evolved in such a manner that he was somewhat amphibious. The fish was found out to be an endangered species, and the terrorised villagers decided to let him continue out of pity (and the prospect of starting a fish market with all the loot landing on their doorstep); saying things such as _poor soul_ and _such a lonely life_. Yet never was the ethical question raised of the mass murder this 'poor soul' was committing to fishkind. Either way they went home smelling terrible (much to Happy's delight), and penniless.

It was on the train ride back, just before their arrival, that they swapped bodies. It was totally unexpected, and they stumbled into Magnolia not understanding anything; but tinged with a general sense of déja vu. The stumbling was emphasised on the male dragon slayer's part, much to Happy and Pantherlily's dismay as they cursed motion sickness and its mother. The best plan of action was to get to Lucy's place to hideout, that and figure out a much more viable plan of action. Lucy wasn't home of course, she was out on a job with Gray, despite Juvia's many protestations. But Natsu and Happy were now experts on sneaking into her place, and after some dusty clothes and a few questionable manoeuvres, they had infiltrated her home without a stitch, bringing us back to the current situation.

"We can't stay here forever." Gajeel was itching to be outside, where he could put some distance between him and the noisy fire mages and blue exceeds, _even if they swap bodies I can't tell the difference,_ he thought to himself.

"We should head to the guild," said Pantherlily, tearing his eyes off what he didn't want to believe was his old body, _so small..._ he shook his head to banish the thought.

"And find Makarov to see if he can help, sounds like a plan."said Charle, as she picked up a silent Wendy and put her over one shoulder.

"Fine by me." smiled Natsu with a genuine Cheshire cat smile. "Happy, how about you?" there was silence, "Happy?"

Natsu sniffed around a bit and discovered ironically his nose wasn't as sharp now he was a cat. He was about to call him again when a loud shriek erupted from the bathroom, belonging to the currently missing used-to-be exceed.

"Happy, what's wrong?!" Natsu scrambled to the bathroom where he heard his buddy's cry, half running, half flying shakily, mixed in with a bit of undignified crawling. "Are you alright?!"

Behind the door was Happy, stark naked in front of a steaming bath with a look of complete shock plastered on his fair skinned face. "What? Why did you scream?" Natsu caught his breath and searched the room, he didn't see anything wrong.

"I... I didn't want to see your junk!" Happy's face reddened as he felt he had just crossed a boundary that he could never uncross.

"Then don't undress yourself! I mean, don't undress me! I mean... this is getting complicated." If it were possible, steam would be puffing out of Natsu's pointy exceed ears at that moment.

"Just get dressed you useless cat!" shouted Gajeel, pausing afterwards to ponder over whether it was still correct to call Happy a cat since he now inhabited Natsu. And furthered his thoughts on whether it was an insult to himself since he too, was now a cat. But these frivolous wonderings were all abandoned when he realised he didn't actually give a shit.

And so off they went all together, looking like an incredibly odd bunch, to try and find Master Makarov and figure out what the hell they were meant to do next.


	2. Hitting the Town

Wendy was adapting to her new body, and, in fact, had acquired a taste for gracefully fluttering through the air. She could feel the wind tickling her feathers as she bobbed to and fro to the whimsical flow of the mid-afternoon breeze. Natsu however, was floundering like a rather blubbery fish. His flight pattern was comprised of sharp zigzags in any and all directions, bumping into every possible obstacle.

"For the love of god just walk, would'ya?" proposed a flustered Gajeel, after having been slapped by Natsu's tail one too many times.

"I don't know why I'm the only one who can't get the hang of this!" he moaned.

I could think of a few reasons, Gajeel sighed inwardly, and flew through the guild doors.

"Hey, Mira!" shouted Natsu. Mirajane looked at him from behind the counter with sympathetic eyes as he bumped his head on the top of the doorframe. After a few goes, and a few bruises, he managed to make it through.

"Hello Happy," she smiled, "what the matter?"

"That's not Happy," said Charle, looking at the blue exceed "it's Natsu."

Mira's eyes widened, her mouth forming a small 'oh'.

"And I'm Charle, not Wendy." She ran a tired hand through her long blue hair.

"Pantherlily, I'm guessing that's you." Mira had walked closer to Gajeel's body, inspecting it on tiptoe, as if trying to find some anomaly resulting from the change. His cheeks reddened slightly, as he took a step back and cleared his throat, "Yes, it's me."

"We're looking for Gramps," Natsu chirped "have you seen him?" He was trying to find his balance in the air, but tumbled to the floor as a heap of feathers and fur.

"He's not at the guild right now… I think he said he had a meeting today; something about the damages Fairy Tail's done to the town." She said sheepishly.

Most of them seemed unfazed by this; damages came with the job, although some caused more damage than others. In fact, some should be labeled with the terms 'natural' and 'disaster'. Natsu sneezed.

"He didn't leave too long ago, if you hurry you should find him in Magnolia."

Laxus walked into the guild at that point, took one haggard look, and walked out again. His thoughts journeyed from 'this looks suspicious', to 'I definitely do not want to know.' Furrowing his brow disdainfully on the way out, his dark, fur-lined coat swished dramatically with his exit.

"I wonder what that was about." said Happy.

"Don't mind him, he's brooding as per usual." brooded Natsu.

"We're to get a move on if we want to catch Master Makarov." Charle pointed out, a saddened Panther then caught her eye, "Pantherlily, really, you're not that small. Quite average sized, I assure you." He roused himself from staring at his old body, disheartened. "Average?" he quizzed worriedly. Charle was already ushering them out, trying to keep calm.

The wayward lot trudged out, saying a fond farewell to Mira, who felt as if a whirlwind has just passed through.

Of course, it didn't take long for chaos to find them once again.

It arrived in the form of Erza Scarlet. They were walking straight past Kardia Cathedral when the collision occurred. It was literally a collision, involving a fumbling-bumbling, almost-flying Natsu and Fairy Tail's redheaded S-Class Mage.

"Ooh my bad, didn't see you there!" chuckled Natsu.

"Happy, you seem… different." she frowned, and felt a sudden memory pop into her mind. "Don't tell me it happened again." She looked up at what she once thought was Happy.

"Personally speaking this is my first time experiencing a body swap." Charle sighed."So this is a recurring theme I gather?"

The situation was explained, in which once upon a time the entire guild switched bodies. And if Happy hadn't been too busy requipping into Erza's 'kawaii' outfits (the blue swimsuit was his favourite) he would've picked Lucy and Gray as the funniest swap. Especially the part where she was drooling ice cubes whilst he was trying to strip. Although, Natsu and Loke made quite a spectacle...

"There's always something." smiled Wendy, who was growing very accustomed to the tumultuous happenings she was often subjected to.

"But this time it's different," said Natsu, "we didn't read any wibbly wobbly, bibbidi bobbidi witchy stuff. We just 'changed' randomly." His hands flailed around to accompany the 'wibbly wobbly witchy stuff', making him lose balance and fall on Pantherlily's head.

Pantherlily, who was tired of this whole mess, couldn't hold back and decided he would punch him, _just once,_ he thought. As of such, a bluish white blob was sent flying into the side of the cathedral. The exceed peeled himself off the building, and put a hand out to steady the spinning wold around him. Once things were still, he shot a mean look at the offending Pantherlily.

"What was that for?!" Natsu protested, theatrically brushing bits of rubble off his wings to intimidate his opponent.

"You needed to calm down. You still do." said Pantherlily in a monotone voice.

"I was calm! But you didn't need to hit me so hard!" He smashed his palm against one ear, and a piece of rubble plopped out of the other. Natsu now realized that although Happy had impressive durability, he was relatively weak, and an Iron Dragon Slayer's Iron Dragon's Club wasn't to be taken lightly. In form of retaliation, he used Max Speed Attack but miscalculated and hit Miss Scarlet in the back of the head.

Happy, who was watching from the sidelines, wondered if he should be worried about his body and what afflictions Erza may feel compelled to execute upon it. He paled at the thought of her ire being taken out on his little blue self.

The redhead was stock still, a mix of anger and disbelief on her face. "You're in for it now, Salamander!" Erza suddenly jumped into action, choosing her Heaven's Wheel Armor, "Dance, My Blades!" she battlecried.

In a split second over two hundred glinting swords were swiftly blazing towards Natsu, circling round Erza, and crashing into Kardia Cathedral. Happy felt a cold sweat emerging on his brow, his eyes glazing over in worry.

Gajeel, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, transformed into Battle Mode and started sparring with Pantherlily, who he himself started experimenting with different attacks. He seemed incredibly pleased with saying "Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!" as an oversized, grey metal spearhead fused with his right arm. They were truly a pair.

During this sequence Wendy and Charle felt they had earned the right to flee, and had gone to the nearest café (not too close, mind you).

Amidst the chaos and flying weapons, Lucy and Gray appeared on the scene, her looking tiredly amused and him just looking tired.

"Oi Gray, help me out will ya?" beamed Natsu, who was still dodging Erza's many, many swords.

"Lucy!" whined Happy, giving her a bear hug, "Erza's gonna destroy my body!" Lucy, who hadn't quite caught onto the situation, blushed madly at the Dragon Slayer who had just wrapped himself around her.

"Get off me Natsu!" she squirmed.

"We're going to have to explain this every single time, aren't we?" said Pantherlily dryly; he was breathing hard from the fight, as was his sparring buddy.

"Explain what?" Lucy cocked her head to one side.

"We're looking for Master Makarov," Charle had come back from a soothing chamomile tea, though its effects were wearing off fast around this lot.

"Have you seen him?" asked Wendy, trailing behind her.

"Yeah, we just passed him at the station. He's on his way to a meeting with the council, something about Fairy Tail's damage costs." said Gray, his gaze slowly drifting towards the cathedral. It currently looked like a piece of crumbling cheese that had been pierced by very large, very sharp toothpicks. "No idea why they would be worried about that though." his sarcasm was fully pronounced.

"Shut up, Ice Princess, just help me already would ya?" Natsu avoided the last of Erza's swords, she had suddenly stopped fighting and she now stared at the battered face of Kardia Cathedral.

"I think this is the oldest building in Magnolia." she said quietly, realization dawning upon her.

"Wait, who are you calling a Princess you retard?!"

"Shut it, Stripper!"

"Flame Brain!"

They glared at one another, Natsu pressing his forehead against Gray's, who was seemingly unfazed by the fact that the Salamander was now Happy-shaped.

"Wait, he's at Magnolia Station?" asked Gajeel.

"Yes, his train leaves in about 10 minutes." Lucy replied.

They dropped everything as the exceeds carried their dragon slayers at top speed, trying to get to the other side of town before it was too late.

Lucy and Gray were then left to deal with the cathedral managers, who looked less than pleased with the new fixtures on their front wall.

 **POV Lucy**

Wow, that was a tiring job. I stretched my back, and started taking off my shoes. "I'm home." I said, hoping somehow my little house would hear me.

The trip with Gray went well, but we sure do have to deal with some unusual requests. This time it was an old man, who wanted us to put on a magic show for his grandchildren. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but the poster up at the guild made it sound slightly more important, using words like 'skilled mages' and 'public acclaim'. Nevertheless upon arrival Gray and I created 'Zodiac's on ice : for one night only!', involving Taurus juggling ice blocks, Scorpio figure skating with Aquarius, and other ice related activities. Gray begrudgingly made some small ice sculptures for the kids, and we finished it off with soft snowfall and a lullaby from Lyra; the children happily dozed off soon enough. All in all it was a long journey, but worth the money and the fun experience.

Now, time for a relaxing bath... I got everything ready, and contemplated which soaps I fancied using, the rose scented one? Maybe I'll go for cherry blossom... That shade of pink always make me happy for some reason.

I then wandered into my bathroom, almost not noticing the pair of men's boxers on my floor.

 **POV Happy**

We were rushing to get to the station on time, and I could feel the wind breezing past me freely. Natsu was holding on to my back, carrying me at top speed. Unfortunately his top speed was embarrassingly slow (not to mention bumpy), but never-mind. I currently had more pressing matters at hand, feeling a faint breeze go up my trouser leg...


	3. Train Trouble

Wendy and Charle were the first to arrive at Magnolia Station, followed swiftly by Gajeel and Pantherlily. The other two were nowhere to be found, "I think he smashed Happy into a shop a few streets back" said the Iron Dragon Slayer. _Figures_ , they all thought in unison.

Indeed Natsu was putting up a good fight, but poor Happy was on the receiving end of his efforts. "Natsu, what if I use some flames to propel us forwards?" He had grazes on his face, and was wiping a thick trail of blood from his lip. "I don't know how many more of your crash landings I can survive." Happy added with a chuckle.

"Okay, let's try it!" Natsu was deep in concentration, and put all his might into the next attempt. Thus far they had been wobbling through the skies, erratically banking one way or the other, consequently smashing into everything. This time Natsu made a point of straightening his wings, facing forwards with determination, "Let's go, Happy!"

Happy felt power course through his palms, and with a battle cry they surged forwards like a firework, blazing through the air. "It's actually working!" smiled an incredulous Happy, who boosted the flames enthusiastically. But it worked all too well, and they overshot the station.

Gajeel looked up and could've sworn he saw a fireball shoot through the sky. He dismissed it immediately, saying "I don't see Makarov."

They all searched the area, not finding any sign of their guild master.

"Is everything alright, Fairies?"

The group felt a chill run down their spine, as Master Makarov seemed to apparate behind them.

"Master! Wha- How did you? Oh never mind," said Charle hurriedly, her disheveled blue hair making her look slightly manic "we're sorry to barge in like this but we've encountered a problem."

"So it seems," he couldn't help smiling "what can I do for you, Charle?"

Pantherlily was relieved they didn't have to re-explain their embarrassing situation for the umpteenth time in one day.

"Makarov," said Gajeel "please tell me you can fix this." he gestured towards his exceed body.

A train had just pulled up at the dock, and slowly groaned to a halt. The guild master put his hands behind his back and said, "Ah, this is my train, I'm afraid I can't help, but good luck!" Makarov cheerily walked through the doors as they brusquely closed behind him. They saw his small silhouette through the glass window pane, waving serenely. The train puffed a sign, and slowly chugged out of the station.

His guild members then proceeded to look infinitely flabbergasted at how unhelpful their master was, watching the train glide away into the distance.

Once the train was nothing but a thin line in the distance, Gajeel let rip,"I can't believe that geezer!" he fumed.

"We'll figure something out," Wendy comforted him, putting a paw on his furry back.

Then, out of nowhere, they could hear their two lost guild-mates screaming; while searching for the source one of their members looked up and saw something suspicious.

"Oi, isn't that a fireball?" Pantherlily was looking towards the horizon. But it was actually a flaming Happy and Natsu, and they were headed directly for Makarov's train.

"HAPPY" screamed Natsu who was desperately endeavouring to fly upwards, sideways and anywhere there wasn't a huge train, "STOP THE FLAMES BUDDY!"

"I'M TRYING!" Happy exclaimed, panicked by the ever growing form of a steam train. It got closer and closer until the two entities met, and so they fell once more, crashing and shouting right through a window and into Master Makarov's unsuspecting lap.

"Oh, Gramps!" Natsu had a stupid serendipitous grin on his feline face, lying on top of Makarov "we were just looking for you!"

The three of them were toppled over on the soft red seats in the train, with pieces of glass shattered everywhere.

"Happy, get your foot out of my face!" Makarov was indignant. "What the hell do you brats think you're doing?!"

Happy quickly sat up straight, and bashfully said "I'm sorry."

"Sorry to bust in like this, but there's a pro-"

"I've already seen your friends, they're at the station." Makarov interrupted.

"Oh, so what do we do?" Natsu looked over at Happy, who was greening at the face. "We'll be off the train soon buddy, don't worry." he turned back to Gramps, waiting to hear some advice.

A vein was pulsing on Makarov's forehead, who was thinking about the irony that these two destroy the train he was taking to a meeting about Fairy Tail's exorbitant damage costs. He grabbed both of them by the collar and flung them out of the now permanently open window. "Sooner than you think!" he bellowed.

"It may sound weird, but I'm kinda relieved to be off of that thing," Happy confessed, whilst falling through the air.

Natsu, who despite his failures was getting ever so slightly better at flying, caught him and flew them (very carefully) back to the station. "Oi look! The others are there!"

The so-called others had witnessed the debacle from a distance, and cringed inwardly as the two dopes made their way towards them.

"What on earth did you do?" Charle wailed.

"Well we saw Gramps," said Happy.

"And he threw us off the train..." finished Natsu.

"So we're back to square one." Wendy dismayed.

They all flumped onto the station benches, as thoughts of terror entered their minds.

"What if we stay like this forever?" Gajeel wasn't helping, and rested his chin on his pad, staring at the stone floor. Wendy timorously put her head in her paws, his words echoing through her mind, _forever, forever... forever.._. tears started brimming.

"No, there has to be someone who can help!" Charle pulled herself toghether, she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Oh!" Happy burst out, proud to offer his beloved Charle some help "Levy-chan might know something!" At the mention of her name, Gajeel blushed silently.

Their glumness abated at the prospect of a fresh lead.

"Good idea!.. But I don't even know where to start looking for her." Charle looked up in thought.

"She'd be at the library right about now." mumbled Gajeel into his paw.

"Whatdya say?" Wendy turned to him, not understanding why his cheeks were so red.

Pantherlily gave him a knowing smile, for their relationship was only just blossoming and no one else knew. "That's not too far from here, we should make a move." he said.

Gajeel nodded gratefully towards him, as they all rallied, making their way to find Levy and getting one step closer to cracking their problem.


	4. Study Group

"I'll take a look, just wait a second." Levy ran her fingers over some books' spines, which were sitting tight in on their shelf, looking for anything that could help their predicament. She climbed up a ladder which lead her to some large, dust-scented, leather bound books. "This" she gestured to the guild members in front of her, "will take some time, it's not exactly a common condition." she was maneuvering a big pile of works, the words Misusages of Magic etched into the spines. Precariously she came down, Gajeel's eyes gently watching; ready to catch her if ever she were to fall (not that he would admit to it).

"But you'll be able to find something, right?" Wendy urged, realizing she got fidgety when her paws were on solid ground, instead of floating freely in the air. She levitated a few inches off the floor, and immediately felt better, even more so when Levy gave her answer.

"Of course!" Levy smiled while chucking the books on the table, creating a dust cloud. Everyone stood back, trying to avoid the cloud. The blue haired wizard then sat down, put on her gale-force reading glasses, and got to work.

Several minutes passed, and somewhere between the tomes 3 and 4, Jet and Droy wandered in holding drinks. "We got some Holly Soda from 8-Island!" Jet grinned, handing Levy a drink "So how's it going?"

Levy looked up for a second, "I have an idea for what might've happened," taking a sip of soda, she gave a hardworking sigh, "but I need some more time."

The next hour was spent intensely reading on Levy's part, casually chatting on the others' part, and sneaking quick glances at Levy on Gajeel's part. The non-reading members of team Shadow Gear also intermittently cheered her on with motivational posters and bouts of "Go Levy go!".

"Okay, I got it!" she lifted her head from her book, eyes sparking with excitement. They all turned to her expectantly. "From what I've understood, you've been cursed."

"C-c-cursed?!" Charle and Wendy exclaimed queasily.

"You were going on a mission near Lake Belbor before this all happened right?" Levy asked, trying to hide the glee she felt of figuring out their problem.

"Uh, yeah we were, I think it was the village just next to it. How'd ya know?" Natsu slurped the last of his third drink. Levy started blushing, her cheeks burning crimson, Can I tell them it's because Gajeel told me in private? I mean, I'm only confessing to talking to him... that doesn't mean I'm admitting to dating him... But... But...

"What's the matter?" Natsu was completely oblivious.

"I-I told her before we left," Pantherlily awkwardly covered for Gajeel who was childishly pretending not to be a part of it, "so what did you find?"

"To be honest, I didn't find much," Levy regained her composure, "But Lake Belbor has a protective deity, a 'sprit of the lake' that has the power to use relatively weak but disruptive magic. And it seems she's had a small history with body swapping..."

"But we didn't even talk to any spirits!" Happy said, confused.

"So we managed to annoy someone we never met?" Wendy despaired.

"This is why I don't do jobs with you guys." murmured Gajeel under his breath.

"I'm afraid that's the only thing I could find." Levy gave them a crestfallen look.

"It's better than nothing; we should at least go check it out." Natsu yawned, "But let's call it a day."

Happy had started closing his eyes, and was popping in and out of consciousness. A little rivulet of lava was spilling out of the corner of his mouth. It was late in the evening, and everyone was exhausted. Jet and Droy had fallen asleep, leaning against one another, their 'Go Levy!' banners resting on their laps.

"Thank you for all your work Levy!"Charle said, who was genuinely happy to be getting somewhere with their problematic situation.

They went their separate ways for the night, Wendy and Charle flew back to the Girl's Dorm at Fairy Tail; Natsu and Happy almost flew then decided to walk back to their house at the edge of town; and it's still a mystery where Gajeel and Pantherlily live.

Gajeel however, stayed behind for a while before going home.

"I'm sorry we dumped all this on you." he said.

"N-n-no don't worry!" Levy said timidly.

They chatted for a small while, enjoying one another's company, even though Levy did most of the talking. And a rare moment passed where one blushed, which made the other blush, which made the first blush harder, and so on and so forth until one (*cough* Gajeel *cough*) had to turn away or their face would set alight. There also happened to be an uncomfortable instant where Levy instinctively petted him on the head, because of his fluffy state, and the words 'never do that again' were spoken softly but with authority. Also, those two moments may or may not be related.

And so none of them knew what was awaiting them in the morning, although they all fell asleep hoping that they would be back to normal when they woke up.

They weren't.

"Morning guys." said a groggy, sleep ridden Natsu, who was resting on Happy's nest of pink hair. They hadn't dared make Natsu fly over to the station. "I guess we're still one another then." he said, his brain still muddled by slumber.

"Good morning!" Miss Marvell gave them an amused smile, trying not to laugh when Natsu slunk off Happy's head and flopped to the ground, as blue blobs do tend to flop.

Gajeel arrived along with Pantherlily, and grunted a simple hello.

"Well we're all here now, therefore, let's get going!" Charle was trying her best to be positive.

Thus they chugged away, searching for their panacea, and a stern chat with Belbor's spirit of the Lake.


	5. Cat-astrophy

All in all, yesterday had been a long day, not to mention one incredibly awkward night not daring to change clothes for risk of seeing things that may never be un-seen; and now they were starting right back at the train station, travelling to where it all began.

The point of origin is called Berubo, a village named so because it was situated in close range to Lakes Belbor and Rubo, but mostly because the founder of the village thought 'eh, sounds good enough to me'. Henceforth this tucked away village was given its name and seven peaceful, pleasant, and amicable generations later it had its first encounter with Fairy Tail and, of course, everything would change.

Following an eventful few days in the care – the word care being used very loosely - of our Fairies, the village of Berubo had uncovered the ruffian who had been filling doorsteps with fish. It's now known that this dastardly villain was a rare specimen, who called himself Kraken, despite being somewhat average in size (around the same dimensions as Pantherlily, including tail - naturally). This super evolved, amphibious-to-a-certain-degree fish, was set free from the manhandling grips of Fairy Tail's bluest member Happy, after the villagers saw past its cold, glassy eyes and opened up to the sole - I mean soul – within Kraken. And so they let him go free, but this was far from the end of Kraken's story.

And unbeknownst to the Beruborians, Fairy Tail was already on their way back for a second round.

"How long is the train ride again?" Happy had a whole row of red velvet seats to himself, opposite Gajeel and Pantherlily, and the breakfast muffin in his right hand that Charle had made was taunting him. He was counting every woozy second, hoping a phenomenon would occur in which they were sent flying into the future, a future in which they had just got off this train. It was nice to dream. And that entertaining thought took his mind off the nausea brewing in his stomach. He heard Gajeel sigh.

"It's as long as I told you five minutes ago, minus five minutes." Gajeel's voice droned, looking nonchalantly out the window, having slight sympathy for the newly christened dragon slayer. I'm so glad that's not me right now, he thought, smiling quietly to himself.

"What are you so smug about?" A suffering Pantherlily had read his mind and was shooting daggers right at him or at least, at one of the several versions of him he could make out through the motion-sick haze. The kaleidoscope of Gajeels ignored his comment out of respect, but couldn't help sneaking in a "Man, aren't trains bumpy." just for safe measure. Pantherlily gagged, putting his own breakfast muffin down on the seat.

"We still have two whole hours left…" mumbled the now ironically named Happy.

"Don't remind me!" Pantherlily had grabbed Happy's head and was fervently crushing his pink haired skull between both iron-clad knuckles.

"Get off, you big bully!" he took in a deep breath and, with some difficulty, faced his opponent, "Fire Dragon's Roa-" Charle leaned over and quickly slapped her hand over Happy's mouth, accidentally sending a gust of Sky Dragon Slayer wind down his throat and making him choke.

"I'm sorry Happy but we've done enough damage as it is!" Charle rationalized, moving back towards her seat, but Happy was too busy gasping for air to feel indignant.

"What damage?" Natsu pried, raising his eyes from his golden muffin (not a euphemism).

"You're not seriously asking that, are you?" the look on Gajeel's face was a blend of admiration, disbelief and annoyance. The newbie exceed was, as always, unconcerned by what he was talking about.

"Well, whatever," he grinned, changing the subject, "I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see trains in a new, non-queasy light." Natsu scarfed his breakfast, and after pointing at Happy's muffin, who nodded silently, scarfed his companions breakfast too. He then proceeded to shuffle back in his seat to take a self-indulgent cat nap.

"One hour and fifty-seven minutes…" Happy had finished choking, and resumed his lying down position along with the tedious countdown to their arrival, burying his chin in his scarf.

"I swear to god if you continue, I will skewer you with a lance." Pantherlily was an off-white color, and not in the mood to be messed with. Noticing this, Happy prolonged his countdown in his head, not bothering to hide his feeling mighty sorry for himself.

"I wonder why you don't get motion sickness, Wendy." mused Natsu, already dozing off slightly. Wendy had wondered this herself, and it was something that troubled her. Charle gave her a comforting smile, confident that her beautiful Dragon Slayer would one day soon unlock her true powers and all that came with it. Wendy gave her a hopeful grin, and rested her head in her lap.

"It's not exactly something you should wish for so don't jinx her, Salamander." Gajeel slunk into his seat, also feeling the need to close his eyes.

"Jinxes, curses, it's all happening now, isn't it?" said a sulking, deflated Happy.

"Are you pouting?" Natsu simpered, imitating his whiney voice.

"Shut up, right now I'm waaaay stronger than you are!" Happy retorted, a smile reaching his lips. "Fire Drago-"

"You wish," Natsu cut him short and let out a warm laugh, "get some rest buddy."

Happy sighed, "One hour and-"

Pantherlily, staying relatively true to his word, bashed the moping Happy on the head, effectively knocking him out.

"It was for the best." he declared, solemnly.

The rest of the train journey went by smoothly, but smooth in the general sense, meaning it was as good as it would get for this dysfunctional group.

And so one hour and fifty-five minutes later, Happy was leaping, nay, bounding off the train, goofily grinning and proclaiming his freedom, "No more! No more!" he voiced, elated to be able to scrape his shoes on solid ground. He turned to Natsu, who was just floating off the train, and grasped his shoulders with a profound look in his eye. "I finally understand." He gave him a long hug, "Motion sickness hella sucks." Natsu's feathers tickled his nose, the tickling sensation turning into itching.

"Are you planning on standing there all day?" Gajeel was stuck behind them, and was overlooking this tear jerking scene. Without a second's hesitation, he deemed it completely ridiculous. Happy moved out the way, still clutching on to Natsu, the itching in his nose growing into a substantial sneeze.

"Aaaaa-"

Natsu cautiously moved back a bit, having a bad feeling and not wanting to get his own flames (and snot) thrown into his face.

"AAAAAAAH" Happy was possessed, the sneeze took over his entire body.

During this, Pantherlily was standing on the dock, and speedily assessed the situation. He saw Natsu looking apprehensive, Happy jerking his head back, the same Happy who wanted to release a fire dragon's roar in a train, and sed train right next to the two of them. He took the best course of action, simultaneously flinging himself at Happy, and creating a primitive iron shield to cover the fool's nose and mouth. Thankfully he latched on to the fire dragon slayer in time, and he stopped him from transforming the train into molten lava; sadly he sneezed with such force they were propelled backwards into an unsuspecting pillar, subsequently breaking it and creating a mist of plaster and concrete.

"CHOOOO!" Happy sternuated, proceeding to sniffle innocently.

"Only you could turn a harmless sneeze into a vehicle of fiery doom!" Pantherlily boomed in between coughs, after having taken most of the damage. Happy wiped away some of the lava that had come out of his nose, looking at the thick iron shield that had just detached from Pantherlily's arm. It was lying pitifully on the ground, still smoking, and glowing red in the center. Hovering above it was a relieved, blue exceed.

"Oh my god that was close," Natsu gushed, and flew towards Pantherlily, "you saved my life!" He started rubbing his cheek against his friend's, tying his paws around his neck, "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" he had tears in his eyes, "Happy," he turned to face him ",you need to learn to control the flames."

"Don't you think you're being a bit over-emotional?" Pantherlily wore an aggravated expression, which more than suited Gajeel's face, as he moved away from the crazy one.

"Well even the toughest mage would quiver at the sight of my fiery doom." he joked, "And I got hit by Erza not long ago, and although you can't tell, I have blue bruises everywhere."

Before Panther could react , a voice came from the distance.

"Oi you!" A station guard was energetically running their way, looking furious and shouting some things that are best not repeated.

"We don't have time for this, just run!" Charle said, mortified at leaving a trail of broken, well, everything, in their wake. But the guard had called for back-up and in the blink of an eye they were all surrounded. A moment of frenzy took over Charle, quite possibly due to stress, "Sky Dragon's - !" she roared, her hands glowing with power; the pressure in the air was growing as she lifted her arms back gracefully. "- Wing Attack!" she yelled, ribbons of air swirling, twisting around her and lashing towards the now terrified enemy.

It was over in under a minute; eight guards were K.O, lying frazzled on the ground like sacks of potatoes.

"Oh my god." she kept looking down at her hands, then up at what she had done.

"Awesome!" Natsu was quite literally in awe, and burst out laughing.

Gajeel and Pantherlily calmly and vigilantly increased the distance separating them from the pissed off lady; and Happy and Wendy had to lift their jaws off the ground.

"A-are you feeling okay?" Wendy swooshed towards her and patted her on the shoulders, smiling nervously as one would smile at a toddler who just threw up on a toff's Persian carpet. She nodded silently, still staring at the guards.

"We should really get going, as in, right now." Happy had lifted his head , and was looking at a new batch of station guards heading in their direction.

It was on average a forty-five minute trek from the station to Berubo (even if you could fly), the path crossing through difficult terrain and a few very steep inclines; they made it in under twenty.


	6. Never a Dull Moment

"I think we lost them going up the cliff side." Natsu was panting, hands grasping his knees. He was referring to the group of ten or so station guards that were chasing them ever since their disaster that the train station. Since then they had flown insanely fast, and had arrived at a large plain where the ground levelled out for a moment, a slope awaiting a small way away.

"I didn't know someone throw rocks so angrily" Wendy marvelled, also breathing heavily "I thought if it went any further he'd bust an artery." Charle was sat immobile on the ground, her gaze fixated on a trail of ants, "They look so peaceful…" she sighed, Wendy gently stroked her hair.

"Let's just be thankful Natsu didn't impale me on a jagged rock." Happy wiped some worried sweat off his brow.

"Don't' speak too soon, we've still got one last slope to go." Natsu joked, he looked around then said "Hey, does anyone know where Gajeel and Pantherlily are?" they all looked around, apart from Charle who was having an internal crisis, and spotted two Pantherlily-and-Gajeel-like figures in the distance.

"They seem to be saying something, can you guys make it out?"

"It looks like they're waving hello." Happy waved back awkwardly, disconcerted.

Then they all heard what they were saying, and it was "Run!"

Out of nowhere a group of three dozen station guards rose from behind the slope they'd just climbed, and they were all livid. The two Fairy late-comers caught up and they dashed away as fast as possible, "What the hell happened?!" Natsu shouted, carrying Happy as straight and as fast as he could "There were only ten of them before, they've multiplied like germs!"

"We were at the back," Gajeel wheezed, "and out of nowhere this new bunch of guards appears!" he hollered, his voice getting pushed around by the wind. "One of those pricks threw a rock and hit me on the head." he fumed, a small red bump protruding from his fur, "So we tried to fight back, but I was already exhausted from the flying."

"So we ran instead." Pantherlily finished, crossing his arms. "I realise now we probably shouldn't have lead them to the group." he faced forward unblinkingly, deflecting responsibility.

It was a total stroke of bad luck that they had unwittingly arrived smack bang in the middle of the annual Berubo Station Guard Training Camp; and that the camp organiser thought that capturing 'bad guys' would be the perfect unexpected opportunity for the trainees. Thus the aforementioned trainees joined up with the already engaged group of ten or so fully fledged Station Guards and got down to Fairy exterminating business.

Yells of "Get 'em!" and general "Arrrrrg!" noises were heard in the distance.

"Wait we can't just lead them to the village!" Charle yelled, getting her thoughts together.

"Then we'll fight; with three dragon slayers we should be fine!" Happy smiled lackadaisically.

And that was that, a battle ensued on the slope, not five minutes away from Berubo. The exceeds dropped their partners and took a minute to rest. The partners on the other hand, well they got to work with extreme gusto.

"I'm really sorry but we can't have any more interruptions!" Charle cringed, talking to the guards in the distance, "Power of the stout arms that tears heaven... ARMS!" a mystical blue disk appeared above Charle's raised palm, as the ground beneath their feet was illuminated by colours. They could feel power surging through them, as their offence skyrocketed.

"You can use Vernier alongside Arms!" Wendy called from the sidelines.

"Okay! Fast wind that run the heaven... VERNIER." The three of them were surrounded by aura, enhancing their speed. By the time the guards were within range they didn't know what hit them.

"Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!" Pantherlily had a green aura, covered in glinting iron scales he swiftly knocked out nine guards.

""Fire Dragon's-" Happy felt exhilarated wearing his red aura, and could sense the heat of flames rising up from his fingertips, "- Brilliant Flame!" he grinned from ear to ear, obviously loving the gigantic fireball shooting from his joined hands. He did in ten guards, and consequentially set a tuft of Pantherlily's dark hair on fire "Oi, watch it airhead!" he patted the flames out grumpily.

"Shattering Light!" Charle efficiently dealt the finishing blow, ending all the guards at once, "SKY DRILL!", she raised her arms as a wind barrier formed around them, and with a swift movement the barrier contracted around their opponents, sending them flying - and screaming - far, far away.

She was grinning during the whole thing.

Once the battle had ended, our Fairies stopped for a second, and looked at one another in bewilderment and pride.

"I say Charle wins!" Natsu laughed, rubbing the back of his blue head.

"They won't be bothering us anytime soon, that's for sure." Gajeel looked at her, a smile on his face.

"We should do this more often," Happy tried, feeling a deep love for his fiery prowess "you know, this whole swapping bodies thing isn't so bad, maybe we could -'"

"No way." they shot him down in unison. They walked on to Berubo.

"Not long to go now," Wendy had cheered up from seeing Charle finally let loose all her worrying, "I wonder what we'll find."

Then, not five minutes later, at the entrance to the village of Berubo.

"What the hell did we just find?" Gajeel was staring at the village, but had started to doubt his eyes and whether they were actually working or had just spontaneously decided to give him psychedelic visions.

"Thank god," said Happy "I thought I was the only one seeing it."

"At this moment, I wish you were the only one." Charle's eyes were locked on to the scene before them.

"Berubo's on fire..." breathed Wendy "Berubo's on fire." repeated Wendy.

"Oi, don't just stand there guys!" Natsu ordered, "Happy you suck in the flames; Pantherlily, isolate the fire so it doesn't spread further; Charle you need to support those two using your magic. Us three will get people to safety, let's go!"

"Aye sir!"

"Roger that."

"Since when did you start using your brain?"

Were three examples of the Fairies reactions to Natsu's strangely well thought-out show of courage.

After an hour of intense heroic action, balancing out the karma of annihilating three dozen unsuspecting station guards, the village and it's 72 inhabitants were all A-OK, despite being semi smoked. Pantherlily patched any fire related holes in their houses with iron sheets, and everyone was happy. Well, not everyone; in fact, barely anyone.

The villagers had been corralled into a circle for safety, and were looking incredibly solemn.

"Hello again, dear friends from Fairy Tail." a thirteen year old girl had emerged from the crowd of villagers, something about her suggesting experience far beyond her years. "Though it doesn't appear that way, I'm Doogal Gartfast."

"The village head?!" Happy was agog.

"He's inside a teenage girl?!" Charle said loudly, confused.

"You might want to rephrase that." Gajeel stared at her with a flat look in his eyes, but she still didn't get it. With a sigh he continued, "So all of you were switched too, huh?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Gartfast had a sullen look on her face.

Berubo experienced a body swap at exactly the same time our Fairies did, which wasn't a coincidence by any means. And although it was a tough feat, they managed to deal with it even worse than the young mages.

The village fell into chaos after the swaps were terribly ill timed; cheating spouses were discovered in media res, which lead to people taking the opportunity to set things on fire. Secret recipes for the annual Pie Powerhouse Competition were stolen, which also lead to people taking the opportunity to set things on fire. Children were swapped into parents, which was such a shock that once again it lead to people taking the opportunity to set things on fire. After one literally blazing morning, Berubo's chances of survival were at an all time low, and would've perished altogether if it weren't for the Fairies.

"You are our saviours, and we're forever in your debt." Doogal smiled warmly, a streak of black charcoal on her rosy cheek. "Let us tell you what we know; the fish – Kraken, as he likes to be called – we think he has stopped coming to the village. He left us a final message late last night, written by means of lining up fish head-to-tail."

"What did the message say?" Wendy asked.

"It read: Die you fools." Gartfast shook his head disapprovingly.

"So it's fair to say you won't be seeing him again?" Charle asked, keeping her voice even.

Gartfast nodded, "I would think so. But rumour has it he lives in Lake Belbor, which is just ten minutes East of here."

"I guess I know where we're going next." Gajeel was feeling psyched after saving the village, but didn't want to show his do-gooder side so he put on an impassive face. "Well guys, what are we waiting for?"


End file.
